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Late Blossoms by Merav Fima (Short Story Collection)

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The Resilient Writers Radio Show: Interview with Merav Fima – Full Episode Transcript

Intro:

Well, hey there, Writer. Welcome to The Resilient Writers Radio Show. I'm your host, Rhonda Douglas. And this is the podcast for writers who want to create and sustain a writing life they love. 

Because let's face it, the writing life has its ups and downs, and we want to not just write, but also to be able to enjoy the process so that we'll spend more time with our butt-in-chair getting those words on the page. 

This podcast is for writers who love books and everything that goes into the making of them. For writers who want to learn and grow in their craft and improve their writing skills. Writers who want to finish their books and get them out into the world so their ideal readers can enjoy them. Writers who want to spend more time in that flow state. 

Writers who want to connect with other writers to celebrate and be in community, in this crazy roller coaster ride, we call the writing life. We are resilient writers. We're writing for the rest of our lives and we're having a good time doing it. So welcome, Writer. I'm so glad you're here. Let's jump right into today's show.

Rhonda:

Well, hey there, Writer. Welcome back to another episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show. I'm really excited to have someone with me today that I worked with for a little while. Her name is Merav Fima. She's a writer, translator, and literary critic. She's currently based in Melbourne, Australia. And she's the author of the forthcoming mystical Sephardic migration novel, The Rose of Thirteen Petals and the Pomegranate Tree, coming out in 2027 with Running Wild Press.

She's also the author of the short story collection, uh Late Blossoms, which came out with Vine Leaves Press in October, 2025. She has a PhD in creative writing from Monash University and her work has appeared in anthologies and literary journals worldwide. Hi, Merav. It's so nice to see you. It's been a while.

Merav:

Hi, Rhonda. So good to be here. So good to see you.

Rhonda:

And so talk to me about this short story collection. Where did it, where did it start? Did it start with like one story? Tell me, think back to like the original.

Merav:

Yeah. Yeah. So this collection started with my master's thesis, actually in creative writing where I studied in Israel, the Shaindy Rudoff Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Bar-Ilan University. But the earliest story, Degeneration, which is right in the middle of the book, was even earlier.

So I remember I was still an undergraduate in Montreal and I was doing a summer session at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. And the instructor said to us, you know, go find a painting on the wall that of a figure, a figurative painting. And uh just imagine a conversation with this figure. And so I found a beautiful painting by Kees van Dongen of this woman climbing on a sofa and just her face facial expression really intrigued me.

And so I started writing um first just dialogue and then a short story about her and put that story aside. This was many, many years ago. But then several years later in an art history class, I studied about the artist Else Lasker-Schüler.

Else Lasker-Schüler was uh a Jewish expressionist, poet and painter in Germany, just before the Nazis took over. And somehow her story really seemed to fit so well with this character and this figure. And so we wrote the story with her in mind and with her story and how she is persecuted by the Nazis as a degenerate artist. So that was the very first story.

But then when I came to do my master's degree and we had to think of a theme for the thesis. I suggested that I would write short stories about different Jewish women artists around the world and the kind of persecution they suffer for nation.

And so the stories really came together little by little. I think only three stories in most book were actually from the original thesis. And so, yeah, and this was over 20 years ago. So this has really been such a long process. The stories came together little by little, one story a year maybe, until I really felt I had a collection I could put together as a book.

Rhonda:

And did you have to do much in the way of research to find these artists who had that story of being persecuted either for their art or for being Jewish or both?

Merav:

I did. um I wouldn't say that I started with the research. think often I started with an artwork that inspired me. Or in the case of the poets, I was, you know, just inspired by a certain poet reading their poetry for a while. And then a story, it took shape in my mind, but then I would always go back and do research and try to make at least the situation more realistic to their life.

Rhonda:

Right. And Jerusalem figures heavily in this. I mean, the stories are, ah you know, have a strong connection to Jerusalem. So is that because you were there when you wrote them or what? was that about?

Merav:

Yes, I would say when I started writing the thesis, I was living in Jerusalem at that time. And I really loved being there. I loved being in Jerusalem. I felt there was such a special place, even in terms of the architecture, in terms of the culture.

There's always a festival going on. There's always something to do. It's always very culturally based. And also just this mingling of different cultures and different ethnicities, different religions all together. The ancient and the modern all mingle together.

So it was really such a special place. And the house itself in these stories, in the six central stories, the characters all meet at the Anna Ticho House. And Anna Ticho was an artist who's well-known still to this day in Israel. And her husband was an ophthalmologist who had a clinic in the house.

And so The house is still a very central cultural landmark there. There is a cafe that many people go to. They often have concerts and performances and exhibitions. And so I used to go there. I used to also work for the museum that now handles the exhibitions at the house. So it was definitely, you know, meant a lot to me. But I would say that the Jerusalem connection really started with that particular venue. So with the architecture and then starting to imagine Anna, first of all, then all these other characters just moving around that particular location.

Rhonda:

Oh I love that. I love the idea of characters in a location, you know, and the location is real and yeah, and you can kind of imagine them moving around. I love that.

So um how did you make the decision, you know, about curating the order of the stories. How did you make that decision? Because I think it's something that we don't talk about a lot, but once you have a bunch of stories, you have to put them in an order that makes them into a book. So how did you go about doing it in the case of this?

Merav:

I agree. I think that was the most difficult part of putting this book together. And I don't think I was able to do it until I met you and joined the First Book Finish program.

I think until then, especially, you my master's program had a big focus on craft. And so, you know, I was very much involved and doing very deep work in terms of the craft and structuring each individual story. But I wasn't able to conceive of the book as a whole.

And I think that's something that you gave me. That's really such a huge gift to me and to your program that I really was able to finally conceptualize it as a whole book, the book as a whole. And that also helped me with my future projects as well, the books that are coming out afterwards.

And so in this collection, there are three parts. The first part is set in 1948. It's just one story. And I sort of felt that that would set the scene for the entire book. The characters in that story are a Catholic nun and a Muslim shepherd fall in love um and then you know they're torn apart by the war of independence and so that's the first story.  

And then the central part of the book the six historical stories I've aged in chronological order so I start with Anna Ticho when she arrives in Jerusalem and um and tries to you know re-ignite her inspiration for painting, which she had done as a young woman in Vienna and then come to Jerusalem and found the place very desolate and also was very much engaged in helping her husband in his clinic and so had put her artistic practice aside.

And so these stories are in chronological order, so Anna Ticho and then Rachel, the poet, Zelda, Else Lasker-Schüler, who I mentioned earlier. And then we move into the 1950s and 1960s with Leah Goldberg and Nelly Sachs, who was the first Jewish woman who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

And then I felt that these stories on their own, you they weren't enough. They, I really wanted to represent and to show how their artistic legacy extends into the modern day and into our own.

And so I included the last section, three stories that are set in the, you know, in the early 21st century, also in Jerusalem, one about a musician, one about dancer, and one about an aspiring poet.

And so, yeah, I would say the overall narrative and the overall arc um is probably chronological. I did want the stories to correspond and to converse with each other. And I also, the first story and the last story are the only ones that are in the first person.

And so I thought that that was an interesting way to frame the collection with all the other stories from the third person.

Rhonda:

Yeah, I could totally see that. That's an interesting way to think about that.

Talk to me a little bit about the cover. Did you decide on this or was this your publisher? Because it's beautiful, so gorgeous.

Merav:

Thank you so much. I keep getting so many compliments about the cover and I really feel that so many readers have been drawn to the book because of the cover.

And so was very fortunate that my publisher, Jessica Bell, who founded Vine Leaves Press, designs all the covers for the books that she publishes. And she has won many awards for her covers. So she's very, very talented and I'm very, very grateful.

She did ask me for some ideas and I think I told her that I would like to see a woman's face or profile surrounded by flowers. And so she came up with this beautiful concept.

Rhonda;

Yes. Is it bougainvillea? I feel like it's bougainvillea or something.

Mera:

Yeah.

Rhonda:

I love how she carries it across the spine of the book and onto the back. It's a beautiful cover. Really well done.

So you moved from short stories into a larger project. You want to tell me a little bit about your larger project? It's coming out in 2027, right?

Merav:

Yes, it is. And actually, as we speak, approving the proof, which is very exciting. Hopefully that will be completely approved and off to the distributor very soon.

That book is a novel. It's a mystical Sephardic migration novel. They're a contemporary Sephardic family in Jerusalem. And when I say Sephardic, I mean a family that traces its lineage back to medieval Spain before the Jews were expelled.

And so this young woman who's also an aspiring poet and literary scholar retraces her lineage back to medieval Spain. Every chapter goes back in time to a different continent, to different location, the family's migration, and every chapter moves back further back in time all the way back to the 11th century in Spain.

Rhonda:

Did you have so much research for that one? I mean, just to understand, in order to write about a place in history, have to know it fairly well in order to evoke that time and that place.

Merav:

I did. So that book, that was the creative component of my doctorate. And so um the PhD had both a creative component, which was this novel and a research component. And so within the research, I did a lot of research, both about the time and the place, but also about how that kind of history and nostalgia for Spain has been evoked in literary work, the novel, since then.

Rhonda:

So it seems like from Late Blossoms, the stories in here, and your novel, there's like, there's a little bit of an obsession with artists, women artists, kind of the legacy of art. Do want to say something about that?

Merav:

I will, sure. First of all, I just want to mention that the last story in this collection, Rose Among the Thorns, was really the starting point for the novel.

Rhonda:

Oh, okay. Love that.

Merav:

Yeah, so the doctorate at the end of the first year, I had to present a seminar and they wanted a sample. And so I presented the short story that ended up being part of this collection. And then the following year, as I continued my studies and my work, I really developed that into a full novel.

In terms of art and artists, I studied, an undergraduate, I studied both literature and art history. And my first art history teacher was probably one of my most inspirational teachers and professors I've ever had. And I really felt like she has accompanied me, even though she passed away shortly after. She really has been there all along with me as I've been doing my writing and developing myself as a creative individual.

And so my third book that is down, you know, advanced revision stages is a memoir about her, that really about me.

Rhonda:

Oh, wow. Okay.

Merav:

Yes.

Rhonda:

I didn’t know you were working on that. That’s amazing. Okay, great. Wow.

Merav:

So she, so that book is all about art. So every chapter of that book looks at a different work of modern art progressing from the Rococo period. Classical neoclassicism, romanticism, all the way up to impressionism and contemporary photography. So every chapter looks at different artistic style within those periods, focusing on one artwork that she taught.

And then at the memoir part of it really looks at my own development as an artist for my student days from the time I met her all the way to the current time as a young mother and writer, caller.

Rhonda:

Wow. So what is it that fascinates you about women artists in particular?

Merav:

It's a great question. I feel that women especially have so many obstacles that they face as artists um and especially throughout history. I really wanted to explore that. I really wanted to see how they overcome those obstacles and really make their voices heard even in a world um where predominantly men's voices were the dominant style or where their commitment to perhaps their husband's work was more important or took precedence to their own creative practice.

And especially with the example of Else Lasker-Schüler that I gave previously, how women were persecuted both because they were Jewish and because they were women and not just persecuted.

Um by the Nazis, but there's a scene in that story where she's almost raped by the Nazi officer. And so I found all those situations intriguing and I really wanted to explore them. And I think it really just resonated with me as an aspiring artist, as an aspiring writer, to really try to my own place in the creative world and to give voice to my own concerns and interests.

Rhonda:

Yeah, I wanted to ask you a little bit about that. mean, how much is sort of being uh either a woman artist or a Jewish woman artist? Because I always think as writers, we're artists whose medium is words, right? How does that sit with you? I mean, it feels like you're embracing it. It feels like you feel like there's really something significant to be explored there. But I'd love to hear you talk about it a little bit.

Merav:

Wow, it's very interesting. Yes, I would say that for me, my Jewish identity is always figured very prominently in my writing and has definitely been a source of inspiration and particularly just the rich textual tradition, both the but also the modern poetry by some of these women that I mentioned in this book.

And so I really feel that all of that is a significant part of my own artistic legacy. But, you know, I did, as I said, I lived for a few years in Israel and Jerusalem, but mostly I grew up in Montreal and then I've been living here in Australia for almost eight years.

And while those two places do have large and supportive Jewish communities, it was always a struggle to really find my place as an artist um and give voice to and express myself in a way that would appeal to the larger population and that would really fit in with the literary interest of those location.

Rhonda:

Yeah, that's really interesting. I think it's a challenge for every artist to kind of, I mean, I'm sure it's true for visual artists too, but certainly for writers to sort of find your voice and your, and tied up with that, finding your material, like finding the things that, you know, you can obsess about um in your stories. So it certainly seems like you've done that, which is amazing.

So you've written short stories, a novel, and you're working, you're finishing up a memoir. What is it like to, like, how are they different in terms of your own writing practice to go from short stories to the novel to memoir?

Merav:

That is a great question as well. With the short stories, as I said, you know, they came together over years. So really, was, the focus was on each individual story. And so to really, you know, write a draft and then polish it up and revise it and um, but you know, each story was really the focus and they felt that I had completed work before moving on to another story.

And with the novel, I think I had to really plan ahead. Um, had an outline, you know, part of it was because of the requirement of the doctoral program I had to submit. Um, and so, um, that helped in that sense, but it was really…

I think with a short stories, I, with the short stories, I really learned that a story had to focus on one significant turning point in the character's life. Like there was no time for an extended timeline or chronology.

Rhonda:

Yeah. Yeah. Let's pause while we do eight pages of backstory. No, no, we don't do that.

Merav:

Exactly. So it's really just trying to figure out like what was the most significant moment in that person's life that could really express what I was looking at.

With the novel, I had a much longer chronology. was just a year. Some novels are good spread over much longer than that. But in the novel, the character progresses over a year and over the cycle of the year and the holidays as well.

So that, and there actually at some points, you know, with the short stories, I often felt like I wrote maybe too much and had then to like to revise and to condense and to delete. With the novel sometimes I felt like in some places I really had to find ways to elaborate and to expand.

So that was different in terms of the craft. And even now in the editing process with the publisher, there were quite a few places where you could really expand here on the way that the character feels or her emotions at this point or how she feels this particular thing in her body and like those things to make it more grounded. So we really like expanded and elaborated in those parts.

And the memoir really came to me because I was so inspired by this professor, Rebecca Rubinovitch. I never intended to write memoir. I really always wanted to write fiction. I never thought that I would write nonfiction at all. But as I was writing the novel, I had a character inspired by her, the mentor, Rebecca. Her name is Vina. She's also in the short story here in the last story.

And as I was writing, I really felt like nothing that I could write, no fictionalizing could really do her justice. And so in parallel, as I was working on this novel, I really started writing the memoir as well. Like I kept hearing her voice and felt like, I had to really capture her voice as well and write down her words. And the memoir sort of becomes a conversation or dialogue between the two of us, indicating her words and the way that she taught those particular artworks with my own experience, my own perception.

So that was very different. I also wrote that, the memoir, while was doing your program. And so the method was different because I was used to really having a polished story or a polished chapter before moving on to the next one. And so I felt like I had something completed to build on.

With the memoir, I tried to write it all in one go, the entire chapter. So now, you know, I do have a full draft. I was able to complete that much more quickly as you suggested the advice. But I feel like, you know, it will take a few more steps now to get to a full revision.

Rhonda:

Right.

Merav:

Chapter to make them more cohesive and the structure more uniform. So that was different for me in terms of the process.

Rhonda:

Oh, wow. OK. And is there a particular genre like that you feel more drawn to or are you happy to just kind of move between genres?

Merav:

Oh in terms of writing to write?

Rhonda:

Yeah.

Merav:

You know, I, as I said, I never expected to write anything but fiction. I always wanted to be a novelist, but I'm very glad to be able to explore and to write nonfiction as well. You know, scholarly writing also, which is completely different, completely different voice. It is completely different, yes.

I'm also now doing a fellowship with PJ Library, which sends books for children, picture books and middle grade novels to children, Jewish families all over the world. And so I'm in my second year already of a fellowship with them. So I've been writing picture book manuscripts, which is different as well. And I'd never ever expected to do that either. So I've really just been very fortunate to have these opportunities to be able to explore.

Rhonda:

You're a mom, you have young kids, so picture books maybe feel a little natural as well.

Merav:

They do. I mean, the craft and the structure I had to learn. really, through all these years of reading picture books with that, it did not come intuitively. But it has been such a gift doing that because I really felt that in some ways I've been able to collaborate with my children. It really has brought us so close.

Sometimes they come up with ideas and I write them or um my middle daughter has always said that she wants to be an illustrator. So she comes up with ideas and I So that has been really great and I can really run my manuscript by them as well.

My two older daughters who can read now have given me very good advice and suggestions.

Rhonda:

I love it. That's so great. That's so great. Merav, can I ask you a little bit about your experience in First Book Finish? I mean, as you mentioned, you did do the program. What would you say was like your kind of biggest learning or takeaway from the program?

Merav:

I'd say, as I mentioned before, I think just the ability to conceptualize the book as a whole is a for me. Until then, yeah, I think I'd been focusing on craft without really seeing the big picture. So the program enabled me, even in terms of like when I was writing the memoir, to really like hold the entire book in my head, which I wouldn't have been able to do previously.

And there was a big focus on program on mindset. think really just moving away from perfectionism and just getting the words down. I think I used to be like you, recovering perfectionist.

And I used to find it difficult to put words down on the page unless I thought they'd be perfect and express what I wanted to say. So doing the program really allowed me to just write roughly and get the words done and go back and revise later.

Rhonda:

Yeah, I think so many of us struggle with that perfectionism, the idea that every time we sit down, you know, what comes out of the pen or out of our fingertips as we're typing needs to be perfect or excellent or great, know, especially people trained in a literary tradition, you kind of feel like, oh, I've got to live up to something here, you know, which can be super intimidating and get in the way.

So yeah, think that's a really important point. So you're finishing up. So this one is out now from... um Vine Leaves Press. Vine Leaves Press. Yeah. How did you find your publisher?

Merav:

Um, I, you know, I've been sending queries for about a year. took about a year from the time I finished the book and started sending queries. Um, but then I, I realized that probably a better way to go about it was to find other books that were similar in theme.

Rhonda:

Yes, so true.

Merav:

I happen to see an article about a book by an American writer who's been living in Israel for many years and her name is Jennifer Lang and her book really follows her own process. It's more of a memoir in little vignettes. So short form memoir, but all gathered into a book.

And so really tracing her trajectory from America to Israel, to the States, back to Israel over like 20 years. And so when I read the article about her book, I realized that the publisher might be a good fit, might be interested. so think.

Rhonda:

Yeah, I think that's such great advice. Like find the books that are like yours, because publishers, other than the big five maybe have like this, a particular lens. They have things they're trying to achieve. They're trying to achieve artistically as well, right? So they kind of curate a collection of books and it's great to find the one that really fits you. So, and the novel is with a different press though.

Merav:

It is. Vine Leaves Press was also interested and it was, you know, it was a very difficult decision. Also, while they also thought like another book that I thought would be similar. Both publishers have been really wonderful and both of them have been very much committed to publishing diverse voices, which is really important to me. And I really value that commitment, especially in the past few years, it has been difficult to get uh work out.

And so, yes, the other ones with another publisher, I thought, just certain things in terms of distribution that, because they're based in the United States, in Los Angeles, I thought that might offer a greater literary circle.

And yeah, they were wonderful. So I hope that by working with these two publishers to really just expand, I guess, my reach. But I loved working with Vine Leaves Press and both of them. Y

Rhonda:

Yeah, that's so great. So what has it been like working with an editor on the novel?

Merav:

I thought it really really added so much and really enriched the book. She really was able to see the parts that could bring the characters to life and make them more engaging. So that, I think that has really enhanced the text. Now, as I'm reading the proofs, I really am noticing those sections and oh have worked with her.

Rhonda:

It's amazing, isn't it? How an editor, know, a good editor becomes like a thought partner that really helps you kind of deepen and understand your own work even further.

Yeah, so great. Well, thanks so much for being here to talk to me about Late Blossoms and your upcoming novel as well, Merav. I really appreciate it.

Merav:

Thank you so much, Rhonda. It’s so wonderful. Thank you.

Outro:

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